by Reuters

BUDAPEST: Fifa are heading into calmer waters after a series of corruption allegations over the last two years, president Sepp Blatter said yesterday.

“I am an optimist,” Blatter told reporters ahead of the world soccer body’s annual congress. “I am sure you will see at the congress that we are back in the harbour, not heaven yet, but we are taking more people on board and are heading to calm, clearer waters.

NEW DELHI: India,  traditionally poor tourists, will have an opportunity to improve their Test rankings when they host New Zealand and current top-ranked Test team England in September.

New Zealand will play two Tests in India in August before taking on the hosts in two Twenty20 internationals as part of their preparations for the World Cup.

The fourth Twenty20 World Cup will be played in Asia for the first time when Sri Lanka hosts the tournament from Sept 18 to Oct 7.

LONDON: IRELAND and Munster back-row forward Denis Leamy announced his retirement from rugby yesterday because of a hip injury.

Leamy, 30, won 57 caps for Ireland and was part of the 2009 Six Nations Grand Slam winning squad.

LONDON: Bruno Senna's Williams car came through the Spanish Grand Prix garage fire relatively undamaged and the Brazilian will use it in Monaco again this weekend, the Formula One team said yesterday.

The car had been in the Circuit de Catalunya garage when the fire broke out as the team posed for a victory photograph following Pastor Maldonado’s first F1 win eight days ago.

Williams’ chief operations engineer Mark Gillan said in a team preview that while preparations for Monaco had been “somewhat hampered” by the fire, the team was ready to go racing.

LONDON: England batsman Ian Bell had nothing to prove after a poor run of form in recent Test series against Pakistan and Sri Lanka, captain Andrew Strauss said yesterday.

LONDON: Weaker euro zone countries need more support from the core of the single currency bloc to deal with their problems, British finance minister George Osborne wrote in the Sunday Times newspaper.

"Euro zone countries must either stand behind their currency or face up to the prospect of Greek exit, with all the risks that could involve.

TOKYO: World champions Japan have called up a towering goalkeeper to help them in their bid to win the women’s soccer title at this year’s London Olympics.

Erina Yamane, 21,  who at 187 centimetres looks down on Japan’s senior men’s goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima, has made the cut for London, local media reported yesterday.

“I thought it was a joke,” Yamane, a product of the Japan Football Association’s “Supergirl Project’’ designed to unearth a future goalkeeper, told the Nikkan Sports newspaper.